Tissue compression occurs when people are sitting or lying down for extended periods of time. When tissue is compressed over a longer time it affects blood flow and people are at risk of developing tissue damage as a result of the reduced blood flow in the tissues. Current pressure relief mattress systems are non-specific and timing for pressure relief is only informed by good practice according to the guidelines of the pressure advisory panel. The reason for this somewhat crude “estimation” of adequate pressure relief times for patient movement is that there is at present there is no measurement system, which is able to measure tissue compression using a non-invasive and ideally a non-contact method.
In supine position, mattress elastic properties and the person's body weight itself act on the body tissues, creating forces between mattress and tissue. Tissue compression and interface pressure is thought to considerably contribute to compromised blood flow when lying or sitting for some time. It is also seen as a major factor in the development of pressure ulcers. Naturally people perform what is called “pressure relief movements” which describe body movements to help redistribute pressure on tissues. However in movement compromised or impaired subjects no adequate compensation mechanism is in place. Pressure relief is then carried out manually assisted or by using automated pressure relief mattress systems.
To date treatment and prevention of pressure ulcers consists of frequent load redistribution to maintain tissue viability tissue according to NPUAP-EPUAP guidelines. This is archived by frequent manual movement of the patient, which requires a lot of nursing time and physical effort. Providing automated pressure relief mattresses to patients does assist nursing staff to provide timely pressure relief to the patient, however these systems only offer crude and nonspecific pressure relief. They can only provide to pressure relief based on fixed time intervals as they have no means of determining the current state of blood flow in the patient. Currently no methods exist, which provide an effective means on when to carry out timely pressure relief, consequently pressure relief is either carried out too late or is not adequate.
It is therefore one object of the invention to provide a system and method to measure compression to solve the above mentioned problems.